In Print: Do Not Call Conspiracy Everything This People Calls Conspiracy

“And then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).  

Now that’s a conspiracy theory that can change the world, if only we keep our heads about us and stay on message. 

My article, Do Not Call Conspiracy Everything This People Calls Conspiracy, is in the April 2017 issue of Christian Standard. When I wrote the article, shortly after the November, 2016, election, I had no idea how timely it would remain.

I highly recommend reading a book I referenced, Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories, by Rob Brotherton (Bloomsbury USA; November 17, 2015).  If you read it with an open mind, seeking truth, it will challenge you to question why you believe the things you believe, and to resolve to be more diligent in "taking every thought captive."

A few quotes:

When it comes to conspiracy theories it’s tempting to think that our belief - or disbelief - is based on fair assessment of the facts. But the reality is that our beliefs are shaped by our overarching worldview more often than we might like to admit. As I said, the conspiracism is a lens through which we view the world - and we all have a different prescription. Few people credulously accept every theory, and few staunchly reject every suggestion of conspiracy. Most of us are somewhere in the middle, mildly skeptical of conspiracy theories across the board, but unwilling to write them off completely. (page 97) 

More than three quarters of the students [in a study] admitted to having one or more paranoid thoughts on at least a weekly basis. Around a third of the students admitted to having a paranoid thought more frequently.
 . . .
Paranoia goes hand in hand with conspiracy theories, but conspiracy theories aren’t exclusive to the fringe, because paranoia isn't exclusive to the fringe.
. . .
Likewise, there’s an element of truth to the idea that conspiracy theorists tend to feel relatively alienated and powerless. But this, too, is a more universal experience than the stereotypes would have us imagine. Psychologists have long understood the importance of feeling in control, and it’s not a desire exclusive to people on the fringes. We all want to believe that we understand our circumstances and are master of our own destiny. (page 109) 

By painting conspiracism as some bizarre psychological tick that blights the minds of a handful of paranoid kooks, we smugly absolve ourselves of the faulty thinking we see so readily in others. But we’re doing the same thing as conspiracists who blame all of society’s ills on some small shadowy cabal. And we’re wrong. Conspiracy-thinking is ubiquitous because it’s a product, in part, of how all our minds are working all the time. (page 243)

Missional Politics: Those people REALLY need Jesus

October 30, 2008,  over 35,000 people lined up to see and hear presidential candidate Barack Obama on campus of the University of Missouri. :

Lines formed early in the day for the nighttime rally, and security crews began ushering people through gates and metal detectors a little after 7 p.m. By the time Obama began speaking the crowd had nearly filled the area, and the security had relaxed. Hundreds of late-comers simply walked onto the quad and found a spot. (Columbia Missourian, 10/31/08)

By the time the gates were opened at 7:00, the waiting line had snaked back and forth through the campus streets and down the sidewalks bordering College Avenue, one of the main city streets.

The Mizzou Christian Campus House sits on College Avenue, and just before 7:00 I was standing on the front lawn with some students who were residents of the CCH houses.

After several minutes of silent watching, I pointed out there was a large captive audience standing in the queue just across the street.

One of the guys with me was part of the CCH worship team. He said, "If we had known, we could have set up and played worship music for them."

"Or," I said, "we could have organized students to take lemonade to the people and used the opportunity to begin discussions with a captive audience about Jesus."

"That would be great," one of the guys responded. "Those people really need it." There was some head nodding in response to that.

"Why do you say that?" I asked. "Why do you assume a crowd of people waiting to see a Democratic candidate are is some way really in need of hearing about Jesus, more than any other crowd?"

They looked at me, a little puzzled.

"If that were a crowd of Republicans," I asked, "would you assume they don't need to hear about Jesus?"

"Well," the young man responded, nervously, "odds are... you know..."

"No, I don't know," I said. "I think it's kind of presumptuous to assume anyone who might support Barack Obama - or is even just curious about Barack Obama - must not be a Christian. I'm certainly curious. I just don't see the point in standing in line in order be in a crowd of thousands hearing him say the same things he says in every speech."

"I also think," I added, "that any such assumption would put us in danger of putting our politics ahead of our mission. If we were to do that, then we would be the ones who really need to learn more about Jesus."

Little did I know that those students were simply expressing a sentiment that would become distressingly dominant among many Christians.

Looking back on the experience, I'm led to conclude that we, the church, are the ones who need to be taught over and over again about Jesus and the mission He gave us.

Missional Politics: Fake it to Make it

Over the past twelve years of being involved in a ministry in a women's state prison, I've encountered many different types of seekers.

There are the ladies who went to Sunday School, VBS, or church camp as a kid. Now, when they've hit bottom, they're genuinely struggling to nurture those seeds of faith planted in their hearts years ago. It's a joy to take that childlike faith and help them mold into a faith capable of sustaining them through the hard times ahead.

There are others who were going to church all along, perhaps even involved in the ladies circle or teaching Sunday School themselves. But there was something else going on in their lives, a dangerous walk on the wild side. They found themselves hitting bottom with a hard thud, in prison. These women often go through an initial period of feeling so much shame, they hesitate to show their face in the chapel. With some time and dedicated nurturing of their faith, they often become leaders among the Christians in prison. They have a fairly decent knowledge of the Bible, combined with a hard-won knowledge of the rougher side of life. The combination gives them the tools to be mentors and friends and counselors to the other kind of seekers.

And then there are the ones who, to use the prison lingo, "Fake it to Make it". They've discovered attending chapel can earn them brownie points or offer an opportunity to get out of their rooms and hang out with friends on the back row.

They learn very quickly, often from others like them, how to say the right things, use the right language, and tell a heart-rending testimony - well enough to earn the favor of the religious volunteers, many of whom come from middle class churches and have had little interaction with people on the rough side of life.

After a volunteer has been working in the prison chapel awhile you learn to pick up on the clues to a fake spirituality. They claim to have been active in a church back home, but their knowledge of basic church culture is sorely lacking. They can quote a few verses, presenting them as "what I found in my studies this week", but their knowledge of how to actually use the Bible is not only deficient (which is also true of many true seekers), but fake. The things they say are superficial and rehearsed, not a reflection of their hearts.

Every prison staffer and volunteer and chaplain learns to be wary of such fakers. They want something from you, something that will benefit themselves. But they don't really want to know the One True God. If you trust them, give them an inch, you're setting yourself up for the con.

Don't misunderstand me. Genuine seekers in prison often are awkward as they learn to read the Bible and pray and talk about faith. It's easy, though, to spot the difference between a genuine desire to learn versus an act put on for the benefit of people watching.

For a long time we had one lady who would show up in the chapel every three or four months and ask to sing a special or give her testimony. If we turned her down, she put on a show of being insulted and then would disappear for another few months. She only wanted to show off her put-on religion for the sake of others.


These fake-it-to-make-it religious people are like the one red-leafed tree in the picture above. Every Autumn that tree turns before any of the other trees. It looks stunningly beautiful against the green backdrop.

The truth is, that tree turns early because it's dying. Its roots are unhealthy. It will soon look like the dead tree next to it. Unlike the precious seedlings and saplings that are doing their best to grow tall and strong, this tree is putting on a grand show, but there's only a cold and false heart at the center.

I've watched it play out year after year in the fall foliage outside my office windows.  I've also learned to see the signs in the "fake it to make it" prisoners.


I pray that Christians will be discerning enough to recognize "fake it to make it" religion when it comes from the mouths of presidential candidates. By their fruit will you know them.

Missional Politics: What tree would you be?

Barbara Walters once famously asked Katherine Hepburn, "What kind of tree are you?"

Take a look, if you would, at the picture accompanying this blog post, and consider the same question: What kind of tree are you?

Admit it. You're also asking yourself, what does this have to do with missional politics? That depends upon your answer about the tree.

I took this picture out the window of the building where my office is. Every Autumn this tree turns a brilliant red before any of the other trees have even begun to notice the days are getting shorter. As I wrote when I posted the picture on my Facebook timeline, "There's always that one tree that just has to be a show off and be the first with the fall fashions."

Maybe that's how you see yourself when you look at the picture. You're the kind of person who is a bit ahead of your time. You're an "early adopter" of new technology. You're a dedicated consumer of news and information, from both traditional and new media, so you often know what's trending and what's coming up next in culture and in politics.

Or maybe you may see yourself as the tree that dares to be different, standing up tall for what it believes. Whether it's religion or politics, you're not afraid to speak your mind and be seen as the different one.

Or perhaps the tree makes you think of how you're on fire for Jesus. You're always eager to represent Jesus' point of views about religion, culture, or politics, .


Actually, none of those metaphorical descriptions fit this picture.

This tree turns earlier than the neighboring trees every fall because it's not healthy.

I'm no tree expert, but I suspect there's something wrong with the roots, or with the soil around the roots. This tiny forest is wedged between a large industrial park and a four-lane divided highway in the middle of a mid-sized city. No telling what's in the ground and in the little creek that trickles next to the road bed.

I know that's why it turns early every year because the tree next to was previously the one that was always previous with its changes. As you can probably tell, it's now dead. Really most sincerely dead.

Which is where missional politics comes into the picture.

My definition of being "missional" is that in whatever you're doing, whether you're having a cup of coffee with someone, watching a game with the guys, or discussing politics, the Christians priority should ALWAYS be to bring glory to God and to be planting or nurturing seeds aimed at drawing others toward God.

I use the term "missional politics" to describe an approach to politics that is driven by a strong commitment to pursue God's mission first, with politics kept subservient to that mission. Theology drives the mission and the mission drives everything else, including politics.

Over the past couple of decades I've watched the rapid growth of the Christian community losing perspective in regard to politics. The political tail too often is wagging the gospel dog. I see Christians - from national church leaders to personal friends - becoming so obsessed with their political point of view that whenever the subject du jour is politics, basic Christian virtues are forgotten.

Truth is spun, kindness is overwhelmed by insult, and peacemaking loses out to polarization.

I've spent a lot of time talking to people, researching, and just plain thinking hard to understand what is at the root of Christians taking an un-Christian approach to politics.

As it turns out, the root is exactly where the problem is.

Starting in the 1980's with the advent of cable news networks and talk radio, there has been an information glut in America. Easy access to the internet has multiplied that flood of input exponentially.

With that flood has come competition, and the best way to compete for the eyes and ears of the information consumers is be emphasizing the extreme, the radical, the loud and eye-popping.

With that radicalization has grown an increasing compartmentalization of news sources.  If you're ears are tickled by salacious celebrity gossip, there are channels and sites and apps for that. If your antennae are attuned to conservative ideas, or liberal ideas, or libertarian ideas, or alternative paranoid alarmist ideas, there's a whole constellation of sources to feed your preconceptions.

As a result, here we are in 2016 with more information at our fingertips than we ever dreamed possible, but most of us are choosing to our consumption to nibbling at only a few select dishes on the smorgasbord.

Like a tree being feed an uneven diet of toxic nutrition, the average Christian's powers of discernment are being slowly poisoned. We're consuming so much of a limited range of information, we can no longer recognize the validity or existence of alternative ideas.

Like the beautiful red tree in the picture, we're proud to be the oddball in the crowd, the one is getting the good info and possesses all the right opinions about every topic.

Worst of all, with constant feedback from our favored sources, continually reinforcing our confidence in the rightness of our views and our cause, we begin to listen to those voices more than we listen to that other voice inside us. The Holy Spirit voice. The one that keeps trying to pull us back to the Bible, back to our purpose as Christians, back to the fruit of the Spirit and humility and mission.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. (Psalm 1:1-4)

It's a radical idea, I know. It's a radical approach to politics, one that isn't always easy to stick with. I have plenty of personal opinions about politics and issues and politicians. But I work hard to keep from being a pundit, someone who always has to comment or tweet or blog about the latest news and my hot take on the proper political perspective.

It's losing perspective that has been the problem. People are more interested in being right than in being righteousness.

The word "radical" comes from radix, the Latin term for "roots." Radical righteousness and truly radical politics comes from having the right roots.